A member of the Institute since 2007, Des Kearns MIIMS, will reach a milestone when he turns 80 in 2024. Not only is he a highly experienced marine surveyor, but he is also a published author. These days he lives in Thailand, but over his career, he has been located all over the world. Des is a member of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners and also of the Singapore Institute of Marine Arbitrators. In this interview, Mike Schwarz poses the questions for Des to answer.


Des Kearns A day in the life of...


Q1 & Q2. Let’s start by going back in time. What was the appeal of the surveying profession and how did you make your mark as a marine surveyor when you arrived on the stage? What training did you need to help you develop your skills as you moved from your career at sea into a new role and did you have a mentor?


I was still a teenager when I sailed around the world in a thirty-foot sloop. Then I spent two years chasing large schooners and square-rigged ships working for no wages with the sole purpose of learning seamanship. This background sparked my interest in pleasure craft surveying. In the early years as a surveyor, I learnt by jumping in the deep end, mainly because no training was available.


Small craft surveying and my commercial career ran parallel. In 1982 I was running an icebreaking,


anchor handling tug in the Arctic Beaufort Sea. Eight tugs were involved mating a 270,000-ton super tanker with a 200,000-ton ‘steel island’ to form a hybrid mobile oil exploration drilling unit capable of withstanding the global forces exerted by winter ice.


Capt. Mike Jacobs from the prestigious survey firm of Noble Denton was the warranty surveyor. I mention this because that event, that day, was my career turning point. I developed a burning desire to become a marine warranty surveyor like Mike Jacobs. Fear also crept in. I did not know whether I could fill his shoes. Regardless, I wanted in.


Later when I became an Arctic drillship captain, Mike Jacobs representing Underwriters attended with me during rig moves. He became my mentor and window of opportunity to become a Noble Denton surveyor.


140 | The Report • June 2023 • Issue 104


During my 1988 job interview in Singapore Capt. John Killick with a pair of half glasses perched on the end of his nose said to me…. “If you want to be a Noble Denton surveyor you will meet challenges requiring you to draw on inner strength. We want men who make shit happen, even the seemingly impossible. You must possess a knack for breaking down overwhelming projects into chewable pieces, find solutions and appreciate lessons learned, even in failed attempts. You must be able to hold your ground. Never bend to commercial pressure. If you believe you are right, you must stand on the platform of right. I am of course talking about moving the world’s largest oil structures on the oceans which is what we do here.”


Those words inspired me for the next 16 years.


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